Fly Fishing Magdalena Bay

Just returned from an incredible trip down to Baja’s Magdalena Bay. From Mangroves to dunes to cactus and blue water, it was a wild contrast of extremes. I’ll be posting images here over the next few days. The best part of the trip for me was free diving with marlin on bait balls in the blue water off shore approx. 25 or so miles.

I’m considering hosting / teaching a photography workshop next November in Magdalena bay with part of the focus on free diving with Marlin and other components would be capturing the contrast of the stunning sand dunes juxtaposed with mangroves and even cactus. Capturing images of people with a documentary style would be part of it as well. If you are potentially interested, let me know. Fly fishing would also be a component of the trip as the fly fishing for striped marlin can be off the charts good.

More to come…

John Huber releases a striped marlin after landing it on a fly…

A sea lion and striped marlin work a bait ball in the blue water.

Source: fly-fishing-and-photographing-magdalena-ba...

Dangeros Dan

There’s a great piece on Dan Lahren by Chris Dombrowski in the new issue of Anglers Journal. It’s worth tracking down a copy as Chris’s writing portrays Dan pretty darn well.

I shot the below image of Dan as he pulled up in front of his Livingston, Montana home ready to head to The Murray after a day on the Yellowstone River.

Here are a few unpublished outtakes of Dangerous Dan:

Dan in his living room. Livingston, MT.

Silver Creek Baetis

Baetis are the mayflies, from May through November, we see—not always prolific—on an almost daily basis on Silver Creek.

The FlyFish Journal Summer 2019

Val Atkinson and I traveled down to Argentine Patagonia a few seasons ago to shoot and write a story on Jorge Trucco who was, essentially, Argentina’s first trout guide and outfitter. He’s done a lot more for the fisheries in Argentine Patagonia including being the leader in implementing catch and release and preventing the construction of numerous dams on treasured watersheds.

This story is currently in print in the summer issue of The FlyFish Journal. To read the entire profile, go grab an issue…

Val Atkinson Feature. Anglers Journal. Summer, 2019.

I’m honored to have a feature, both words and photography, in the new summer issue of Anglers Journal on Val Atkinson. To date, this was the most meaningful editorial story I have done. Val is the grandfather of fly fishing photography and has filled passports for the past forty years taking iconic images all over the globe. More importantly, when he agreed to have me come down to his home on the Fall River in California for a few days to meet, talk, fish, etc, little did I know that I would develop a great friendship with him and eventually travel internationally together on an assignment.

Val is a wonderful, kind, sincere, humble, and authentic person. I feel very lucky to call him a friend. I am including here some behind the scenes black and white images of Val at his Fall River home.

Anglers Journal. Summer 2019.

Here are some behind the scenes images of Val…

Ashton, Idaho

From one day to the next… I just spent a few days in West Yellowstone and Ashton, Idaho. On Saturday we had snow and wind and on Sunday it was sunny, cool, and spectacular.

Spring near Ashton, Idaho.

White and green. Shot near upper Soda Butte Creek, Yellowstone National Park.

Silver Creek, Idaho

Opening weekend on Silver Creek was met with lots of thunderstorms and heavy rain / hail squalls. I’m really glad this is a big water year…

Silver Creek and Storm Cell. Late May, 2019

Anglers Journal. Spring 2019

Excited to have a feature in the new issue—Spring 2019—of Anglers Journal. It’s portraits of 8 guides who work on Silver Creek. A long term project of mine is taking portraits of fly fishing guides, salt and freshwater, all over the world. This piece is great as it’s right in my back yard. Thanks to the 8 guides who not only took the time to be a part of this but let me take a portrait of them which is not always fun to do.

San Antonio de Areco, Argentina

San Antonio de Areco, Argentina. February 2019.

Two men drinking mate in a park. San Antonio de Areco, Argentina.

An Areco summer day at the park on the river

Girl selling cotton candy

Martín. I met Martín one evening in town and had a glass of wine—they drink their Malbec with ice in the hot summer months—with him and his two daughters. The day had been hot, nearly 100, but it was evening and cooler and we were sitting at a sidewalk table. People walked the cobblestone streets at casual paces. Chicharras sang out like distant table saws from the nearby paraíso trees. The more these birds sing, the hotter the next day is supposed to be, Martín told me. Crickets and soft-pitched street banter filled in the gaps in the bird singsong. He invited me to his house the following day for an asado.

Malbec and ice

Martín’s dinning room. San Antonio de Areco.

New Zealand Dairy Farmers

Dairy farmers and dog. I took this shot less than a month ago on a dairy farm on New Zealand’s South Island. A spring creek happens to run through their property…

If anybody knows Euan and Tegan, pictured, please let me know as I lost their email and would like to send them this image…

Dairy Farmers and Dog. New Zealand 2019

Pre-Runoff. Idaho

I’ve been working on, call it a project, imagery that is not perfect in some way, shape or form. Maybe it’s not tack sharp or even just flat out of focus. Something could be cut off. Perhaps there are other blemishes like the lack of water clarity in the image below. I’ve found that so much imagery these days is perfectly sharp and often so from foreground to background. It comes down to, for me at least, embracing the flaws and in some way how light and composition can supersede those flaws and illicit an emotional reaction from the viewer.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. It’s a favorite image of mine by Keith Carter called, Fireflies

Cody Catherall hangs onto one yesterday on an Idaho River…